End of Summer

Summer wound down really quickly once August rolled around. I can't believe school is back in session, and fall has arrived! These summers go by faster and faster every year!

Here's our little guy, Charlie, enjoying a beautiful summer day at the Skrien's cabin near Pequot Lakes. Jenna and I went north for a few days before we both got back "at it" with workshops at the end of August.

Charlie wasn't quite ready for a boat ride, but he sure loved hanging out in the grass...

and down by the water. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite warm enough for swimming - maybe next year!

Chuck and I took a quick trip to the North Shore over the long Labor Day weekend, leaving early Thursday morning. We spent a night with his mom, and then headed up the shore on Friday for some hiking and outdoor activities. However...

it was cold, windy, and rainy all day! Fortunately, there are LOTS of good restaurants along the way, so we basically ate our way up north (Sven and Ole's Pizza and The Crooked Spoon in Grand Marais - mmmmmmmm!). We ended up driving all the way to Grand Portage near the Canadian border. We probably would have gone all the way to Thunder Bay if we had our passports with us.

It was only 48 degrees on our car thermometer, but what a difference a day makes!

Saturday dawned clear and cool!

We set out right after breakfast on a great hiking trail near Cascade Lodge, where we had spent the night.

After hiking along the river and the lake for several hours, we returned to Grand Marais for an outdoor concert by Michael Monroe.

We have been following him for years, and really enjoy his music. He lives north of Grand Marais, and often gives free concerts in the area.

We had to head home on Saturday afternoon, but not before checking out another favorite restaurant for lunch - the Coho Cafe in Tofte.

Kyle's 33rd birthday fell on Labor Day this year, and his choice for a family celebration was a trip to the State Fair. We met at 8:00 am at a Park n'Ride so we could get an early start and beat all the crowds.

See how empty it is early in the morning??

First stop - mini donuts! So good (and all gone)!

While waiting for Jenna and Andy, we hung out at O'Gara's, and the boys got out their phones for a little texting. Maddox had his own in his pocket, too (Corey's old one).

They are actually texting each other. Why not?

The Big Slide.
Maddox wanted to ride with Melissa.

Andy and Charlie were both pretty bored with the Grandstand stuff.

Charlie is teething, and loves to chew on his fingers!

Here's some creative finger sucking!

Maddox: "So what should we eat next, Grandpa?"

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

The whole family.

Right after we took this picture, it started sprinkling so we all split up and went our separate ways. We headed home, since Chuck was afraid he would melt if he got wet, and I needed to rest up because....
I started my 40th year of teaching the next day!

I can't believe I've greeted more than 900 little first graders on their first day of school, and I've taught them ALL how to read! I actually survived the week in great shape. My class is good, although my schedule is pretty goofy. Oh well, we'll carry on and have a good year!

I was definitely ready for the weekend, and since today was a banner day, we headed to Frontenac State Park for some exploring and hiking. No way could we stay inside!

The view of Lake Pepin was beautiful!

We found some great hiking trails that followed the bluff line and offered lots of scenic overlooks. As we were walking along through the woods, I heard a noise off to our left, turned and saw...

two deer! They weren't spooked by us at all. We stood and watched them for quite a while, and when they finally took off, they met up with two more and continued to graze beside the trail. We spent about 15 minutes watching all four of them.

Of course, Chuck was wishing it was deer season, but I just thought it was so cool to share the woods with these beautiful creatures!

Coming soon....Renaissance Festival and Family Golf. Never a dull moment around here!

Summer Update

I can't believe it's August already! Summer has sailed by, and I've got lots of updating to do on this crazy blog. Be prepared for a LONG post!

Book Club

Mid-July found me on the road to Alexandria for "Book Club at the Lake" at the summer home of Linda, one of our members. We had a small group this year, but great food, good wine, and an interesting book discussion

I've become the designated photographer of our group, so first we posed on the front deck. Next, we moved to the waterfall/garden area where I set up my camera on a wrought iron picnic table. I leaned over to check the angle, pressed the timer, and...

my necklace was stuck in one of the holes in the table! Needless to say, my rush to get into the picture was thwarted! And all they did was laugh at me, except for Sandy, who ran to my rescue. :-) After some serious finagling, I was able to release my necklace without any damage, and I tried again.

Ahhhhhh. that's better!

Grandkids
I've also been spending a lot of time in South St. Paul with Jenna and Charlie.
Of course, whenever I'm there, I can't resist taking a few pictures.

He has the biggest eyes!

I'm also getting pretty good at setting up the timer and snapping some of
us together. It's hard to get him to smile at a flashing light, though.

Charlie has also made a few trips to Cannon Falls, and one day, he actually took a nap in the cradle that we used when our kids were babies. So cute!

I've been doing some daycare for Maddox, too. He has a great imagination, and here he is taking my coffee order:
"One carmel latte coming right up. $20, please."
We were hanging out at the kid's play area at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.


Lots of fun toys! Ready, set,

go!!

Oops, I think he forgot to put on the brakes!

Two Harbors

We took a weekend family trip to Two Harbors to visit Chuck's mom and introduce her to her newest grandson.

Great Grandma and Charlie. He definitely doesn't look like a newborn anymore!

Chuck and his little guys.

The plan was for the guys to fish, but due to rainy weather, we ended up riding the Timber Twister at Spirit Mountain, and then hanging out at Canal Park, where Corey gave Maddox a lesson in skipping stones into Lake Superior.

He decided wading was a better option.

Wait 'til next year! Charlie will definitely not be laying around then!

Family picture on the front steps (re-creating a similar pose from about 27 years ago with our kids).

Four generation picture (no, they are not at a North Shore river - that's wallpaper in the background).

After the kids took off for home on Sunday, Chuck and I headed up the shore for a little hiking and sight-seeing. We didn't have time for any extended hikes, but we did find a good trail along the lake near Tettagouche State Park.

It was a beautiful day! That's the cliff at Palisade in the distance.

Overlook above the water - what a day!
We stopped for dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Scenic Cafe, on our way home.

Minnesota Zoo

Jenna bought a MN Zoo membership this summer, so we met my sister there for a quick tour one morning. Since it was hot, we spent most of our time at the indoor displays.

Charlie loved the front-pack and he could see everything!

He followed this blue fish as it swam up and down in front of him.

He really watched this crazy seahorse!

When he started to get tired, we just turned him around and he was out cold. Can't beat mom's chest for a pillow!

He started to get a bit heavy on Jenna's shoulders, though, so we took a break in the Rainforest.

We had a passer-by snap this one. I have a feeling we'll be back at the zoo again before the summer is over!

Summer Gourmet
We missed getting together with our gourmet friend's on the 4th of July since several couples were out of town, so we actually found a Friday night when we were all free and we got together at Lindor's for a summer picnic (indoors again since it was VERY hot)!

We've been enjoying dinners with this group for over 20 years!

My Birthday - July 28th

As usual, my birthday celebration went on for about a week. It started with coffee with my teaching team on Tuesday, then dinner out with Chuck at Norton's in Red Wing on Wednesday, our Zoo trip on Thursday, and the Twins game with the whole family on Sunday. Chuck loves to plan birthday surprises, so this year he gave me tickets for the game for the two of us, and when we found our seats, eveyone was there waiting for us! Not quite like Italy last year, but a great surprise once again!

The stadium is so cool!

I've been bugging Chuck all summer to go, so I was very excited to actually get to a game,

and...the Twins won!!

My hat is a present from Kyle and Corey.

Melissa and Kyle

Jenna, Charlie, and Andy

It was hot and humid, so they spent a good share of the time walking the air-conditioned hallways.

Corey and Maddox, playing superheroes.

Cotton candy, anyone? Yuck!

Melissa brought some fake moustaches, in honor of our hairy baseball players, and Maddox had a great job trying on the blonde one.

Looks good, doesn't he?
After the game, we went back to Jenna and Andy's to grill - steak, corn on the cobb, pasta salad, potato salad, and cake. Delicious!

Kyle had been putting off holding Charlie for fear of "breaking" him, but we decided that now was the time...

Good thing Charlie is easy-going!

I had to get a picture of all of us in our Twins gear!

Cake time!

The candles were in the shape of 61 (thanks, Corey - you had to remind me!)

Our big boy (Charlie, not Chuck!).

I had one more birthday celebration the next week when I went out for lunch with friends. Three of us have birthdays within 10 days of each other, so we've been celebrating together for years!

This year, we went to Southdale for shopping and then had lunch at Tavern on France -delicious! Finally, it's official - my birthday is OVER!

Roadtrip to Illinois
Last weekend, Jenna and I took Charlie on another roadtrip, this time to Fulton Ill. for my nephew Tom's surprise 40th birthday party. He was REALLY surprised since his birthday isn't until February (he actually is just 39 1/2). His wife, Kim, decided more people would probably make the long drive in the summer, and he might be suspicious about plans in Feb. He had NO clue what was going on , so it was a fun surprise!

Happy Birthday, Tom!

My big brother Ted and his two sons, Teddy and Tommy :-)

My sister Joyce and her husband Paul made the trek, too, along with Ted and Pat. It was a fun weekend, but a very LONG drive for just two days. Fortunaltely, Charlie loves the car and he slept most of the way down and back. What a good baby!

Grandkids (again)

I have to finish this very long post with more Maddox and Charlie pictures. I wish I had some Phebe pictures to add, too. She continues to do well down in Florida, and she's actually starting 2nd grade next week! I'm hoping to pay her a visit soon, maybe over MEA.

This week, while I was doing some more Maddox daycare on Monday and Wednesday, I got to take him to Caldecott Camp at the Stepping Stone Theater in St. Paul. Each day, the focus was on a Caldecott award winning book, and the kids got to hear the story, act out different parts of it, do an art project, and then share with parents at the end of the session. Monday's story was "Where the Wild Things Are," one of Maddox's favorite books.

Here he is showing his terrible claws,

and rolling his terrible eyes.

Pre-schoolers are so cute!
Another project this week was transferring all of Jenna's school stuff from our basement to her new school in South St. Paul. We packed it all up from Red Wing in June and stored it at our house until she could get in to her new room. It took two trips in our Explorer to get everything moved, but I was able to combine the trips with transporting Maddox to and from his theater classes. Andy was around on Monday to help her unload, while I watched Charlie.

And here he is! What a big boy! He now totally holds his head up by himself, smiles whenever he makes eye contact, and kicks his feet like crazy!

So.....two more weeks until my vacation is officially over and I'm back to school full time, and I've got lots of things planned to fill up the last days of summer. Hopefully, my next post won't be this long!!